The Chinese government-backed blockchain project, the Blockchain-based Service Network (BSN), continues expanding its global presence by setting up two new portals in Turkey and Uzbekistan. Red Date Technology, the architect behind the BSN project, has signed an agreement with a Turkish consultancy firm, Turkish Chinese Business Matching Center (TUCEM), to launch two international BSN portals in Turkey and Uzbekistan in late December 2021. Established in 2006, TUSEM became a major economic cooperation hub between Turkey and China. The company will be the exclusive operator of the two new BSN portals offering blockchain-as-a-service (BaaS) in Turkey and Uzbekistan. The new portals …

Turkey is eager to become a blockchain hub as a country with one leg in Europe and another in Asia. However, the same passion doesn’t apply to cryptocurrencies, as Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan reiterated recently. Erdoğan hosted a question-and-answer event in Mersin, Turkey with youth from across the country. An attendant referred to the Digital Turkish Lira Collaboration Platform announced last week and asked if the central bank would embrace cryptocurrencies. He also asked Erdoğan about his opinions on crypto. “We have absolutely no intention of embracing cryptocurrencies,” answered the president, adding: “On the contrary, we have a separate …

The Central Bank of the Republic of Turkey (CBRT) has made a major step forward with a research and development project that could see the Turkish lira go digital. On Wednesday, CBRT announced the signing of memoranda of understanding with three domestic research and technology companies that will form the “Digital Turkish Lira Collaboration Platform.” The pool of participants is expected to expand as the project moves forward. The three original technology stakeholders are Aselsan, a major defense corporation, Havelsan, a software and systems developer operating in the defense and IT sectors, and TÜBİTAK Informatics and Information Security Research Center. …

Turkish media reports that authorities there are investigating an alleged Dogecoin (DOGE) mining scam that pulled the rug on investors after amassing $119 million worth of deposits. A Monday report from local channel TV100 broke the news, with police identifying pseudonymous online avatar “Turgut V.” as the scheme’s suspected operator. Authorities believe that Turgut and 11 associates managed to gather close to 350 million Dogecoin, valued at $119 million, before disappearing. Turgut reportedly solicited investments from 1,500 Turkish citizens, drumming up excitement for the Dogecoin “mining” operation at in-person networking events held at ritzy locations and by using a Telegram …

Fenerbahçe S.K., one of the three biggest sports clubs in Turkey, issued its own fan token on the Ethereum blockchain through a new partnership with local crypto exchange Paribu. The initial presale of 500,000 unlocked tokens was completed on Monday, netting the club 15 million Turkish lira ($1.75 million) in 30 seconds. The club announced that the Fenerbahçe Token would have a maximum supply of 190,700,000 tokens in reference to 1907, the year Fenerbahçe was established. According to the project’s white paper, a total of 117 million treasure tokens wil be created on smart contracts over the next 25 years …

The Turkish Ministry of Treasury and Finance announced that a draft bill to establish a legal framework for crypto assets in the country is ready. Deputy Minister Şakir Ercan Gül announced that the crypto bill would be proposed to The Grand National Assembly of Turkey, the unicameral Turkish legislature, at the start of the next legislative year in October 2021. Noting that Turkey is using a free-floating exchange regime — i.e., the value of the lira is set by the forex market — Gül said the country needs similar but stricter regulation for crypto assets than Western Europe or the …

Two weeks after a 15% increase in electricity prices in Turkey, a new store selling professional mining equipment has opened its doors in Istanbul — the business hub of the country — on Tuesday. Opening a mining equipment shop in a country with costly electricity seems counterintuitive. But Phoenix Store, Bitmain’s sales partner in the Middle East, did the math before opening its second store within the region. Phoenix Store CEO Phil Harvey explained that the company’s primary goal with the Istanbul store is to educate Turkey’s crypto-friendly population about crypto mining. Then, customers can purchase mining equipment and hosting …

Turkey’s crypto userbase has grown more than 11 times over the last year, a new survey from Turkish crypto exchange Paribu shows. The “Cryptocurrency Awareness and Perception Survey 2021” was conducted by Akademetre Research, revealing the perceptions and behaviors of Turkish citizens toward Bitcoin (BTC) and other cryptocurrencies. The first survey was completed in 2020. A significant discovery of last year’s research was that only 0.7% of over 6,000 respondents traded crypto in some form. On top of that, 84% of respondents had never heard of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies before. These results have contrasted with previous reports that claimed …

The soccer world continues to seek out new revenue models amid the coronavirus pandemic, which saw the suspension of league matches in some countries, and new partnerships form to find sustainable answers in the digital space. Representing soccer clubs playing in the Süper Lig, Turkey’s primary soccer league, the Turkish Union of Clubs has partnered with fan engagement platform Socios.com to promote innovation in the country’s soccer landscape, according to a July 1 announcement. “Few countries in the world match the unique passion that Turks feel for the game of football,” Socios and Chiliz CEO Alex Dreyfus told Cointelegraph: “This …

Gold wholesalers are starting to find new ways to expand their businesses to retail, thanks to blockchain-based tokenization. International bullion trading company AgaBullion and United Kingdom-based fintech Aurus Technologies have signed a partnership to offer gold-backed tokens in the Turkish market. The partnership will see investors own grams of LBMA-accredited gold via AurusGOLD. As a gold-backed ERC-20 token on the Ethereum blockchain, AurusGOLD (AWG) is minted and distributed by precious metals dealers using Aurus’ blockchain-based solution. “Gold is the oldest decentralized finance system in the world,” AgaBullion chairman Gökhan Yılmaz said, “It has become a globally recognized and established ecosystem.” …

The English Premier League’s Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club will launch fan tokens under a new partnership with Turkish blockchain platform Bitci Technology. The Premier League is the most followed soccer league in the world, Bitci’s announcement states. Turkish blockchain experts will develop a Wolves fan token on Bitcichain. Bitci’s own crypto exchange will list the Wolves fan token first, followed by other exchanges worldwide. The multiyear agreement will see the Bitci logo appear on the Wolves team’s jerseys and screens in the Wolves' historic stadium, Molineux, starting during the 2021–2022 season. As one of the founders of the Football League …

Major Turkish crypto exchange BtcTurk came forward about a data breach from mid-2018 that leaked sensitive information of over 500,000 users. According to the official announcement, the stolen data set contains BtcTurk users’ names, citizen ID numbers, emails, addresses, birthdates and mobile phone numbers. The stolen data set first appeared on an online forum for sale on Friday, with sample information as proof. The seller claimed that the information also contains user selfies with ID, a common approval requirement for crypto exchanges. Over the weekend, users who came across their personal information in the sample data used Crypto Twitter to …